Getting Started - The Chicago Poetry Center

Getting Started

Today I got started at Latino You High School in Little Village with Ms. Gualitos’s English Class, and the after school poetry club. An unexpected treat with this group, is there’s always great food after school! I started off with the English class, and introduced ode poems. We listened to and read Ode to Coffee by Urayoan Noel and I played one of my favorite bachata songs ever, that is basically an ode to coffee. Students got to work on their own pieces about meaningful or mundane objects that they use in their everyday lives. For our afterschool group we read Willie Perdomo’s classic “Where I’m From”. I introduced the idea of using our five senses to generate details in writing, since Perdomo does a really great job of that in his piece. After some discussion and brainstorming, students got to work. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this group of young people come up with in the coming weeks, and think you will enjoy this weeks poems!

Ms. Gualitos English Class

Forever Wild Abbie T

Oh fur coat
versatile and fun
I wear you in the night time
through the streets we run
Glamourous and gorgeous
outfits, oh I love how
You make me feel so fierce
Just girls forever wild

After School Poetry Club

Where I'm From the Grass is Minimal Michael M.

Where I’m from the ground is mostly dirt, and mud,
with hardly any grass or vegetation.
Covered in bottles of pop or cans of beer,
with dumpsters in the alley and trash cans filled
with trash.
Where I’m from stray cats of varying colors
are always walking around slipping through the
cracks of gates, scavenging for food with their
pretty feline eyes.
Where I’m From it’s always quiet beside the
sirens from police cars, ambulances, and fire
trucks or the occasional party being thrown
by our neighbors.